Since the Dec. 16 gang rape on a moving bus in Delhi, there has been much debate about what happens to a 17-year-old male if he is found by a juvenile court to have participated in the crime.

Five men have been charged in a fast-track court with murder, rape and kidnapping. At the weekend, the five entered not guilty pleas. A sixth person, the juvenile, will face proceedings at Delhi’s Juvenile Justice Board. The board last month declared he is under-18.

The key questions are: If found to have committed the offense, what punishment will he face? And, what difference would it make when he turns 18?

The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act of 2000 says that in a case where a 17-year-old is found to have committed a crime, he will be kept in a “special home” for “a period of not less than two years.”

The maximum punishment the law outlines for juveniles under any circumstances is three years in a protective home, though there is a provision for bail. It makes no difference that the juvenile facing proceedings in the Delhi case would turn 18 within a year.

“It doesn’t matter that a juvenile becomes an adult within six months or so,” said Vikas Pahwa, a lawyer at the Supreme Court.

If found to have participated in the Dec. 16 offense, the juvenile would still serve a term totaling no more than three years in protective custody or on bail, if granted, Mr. Pahwa said.

“Though, I think he is unlikely to get bail in accordance with the provisions of the law,” he added.

The date of the term of custody usually begins from the date of the juvenile board’s final order. But time spent awaiting a decision from the justice board can be counted toward that term.

Mr. Pahwa added that if any changes in the relevant laws were introduced – such as lowering the age of a juvenile to under-16, as some have proposed – it would have no impact on this case. The Supreme Court said Monday it planned to examine India’s juvenile justice laws.

According to the website of the Delhi Police’s juvenile justice unit, there are 27 shelter homes in the city, including three observation homes — where juveniles are generally kept during proceedings of a case against them — and also one special home run by a non-governmental organization that caters to juveniles of up to 18 years.

Ved Kumari, professor at the University of Delhi’s law faculty, said arrangements have been made at a north Delhi children’s home to house juveniles who are more than 17 years old.

Some believe confinement in a protective home for juvenile offenders on the verge of adulthood is insufficient punishment in serious crimes.

Ishkaran Singh Bhandari is a petitioner representing lawmaker Subramanian Swamy, who wants proceedings against the juvenile in the Delhi rape case to be heard along with the five men facing trial in the fast-track criminal court.

Mr. Bhandari said that, if found to have committed such a “heinous” offense, keeping the juvenile in protective custody is “virtually setting him free.” A lawyer for the juvenile couldn’t be reached.

Several lawyers familiar with juvenile law said it is important that the juvenile receive a fair hearing despite an outcry about what some consider too light a punishment if he is found to have committed the offense.

The young woman was gang-raped and so brutally assaulted that she later died of her injuries.

“You can’t hang a juvenile because there is a media or a public outcry,” said Mahesh Sharma, a lawyer who works on juvenile cases.

C. Raj Kumar, dean of Jindal Global Law School, added that the human rights of the accused should not be violated in the quest to secure justice.

“It is rather unfortunate that the trial and the observations that are made outside the trial process are creating a perception of the accused persons not being given a fair trial and judicial process to defend properly,” he said. “This is much more serious when it comes to the involvement of a juvenile.”

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